What narrative point of view is provided by casting Van Dyke as the main transmitter of the tale? Why is it useful to have three main characters, and what is added by their different viewpoints?
How are humor and irony used throughout?
What are implications of the fact that this tale is allegedly set in the Amazon? What is the attitude of the adventurers toward the native peoples of the region?
How may Gilman's tale be indebted to adventure and romance literature of her day? In what ways does Herland reverse conventional plot lines?
Does Herland resemble any features of contemporary anthropological research?
What initial stereotypes of women are parodied in the explorers' initial conversations and assumptions throughout?
What attitudes toward women are satirized in the character of Terry? Of Jeff?
What are some features of the Herlanders' use of land? (intensive agriculture, recycling, careful planting, forest husbandry, neat gardens, parks, and roads)
What are some features of Herland society? (all think as one, "we," share all information, are dedicated to education and science)
What causes their greater health? What qualities make these women unlike those of the early twentieth century? What dos it mean to say that they are "unfeminine"?
How are children born? What emotions attend the experience of birth? How is the issue of sex treated? What points may Gilman be trying to make in her exposition?
What do these women believe about religion? Their view of the Christian doctrines of infant damnation and immortality?
How do they view issues of tradition and reverence for the past? (cast off obsolete traditions, future-oriented)
How are animals treated in this society? Which animals are preserved and bred for desired qualities?
How are their living quarters arranged? (to give privacy) Why do you think Gilman stresses the need for private apartments?
What do we learn about the origins of this society? What catastrophes or conflicts have removed the men, and with what results?
How do the Herlanders employ technology? (anesthesia, rapid electric boats)
Why are there no conflicts between individual Herlanders? Is this plausible?
Is any provision made for non-conformity or individual dissent?
How are the respective romances of the three men compared? What is notable about Van's relationship with Ellador?
Is the reason for their eviction from Herland fitting? Is an ending based on a foiled rape and unusual plot feature?
How does Herland differ from the imagined societies created by Bellamy and Morris? Are there aspects of social or economic life omitted from Herland but present in their accounts?
Judging by News from Nowhere, Looking Backward, and Herland, what insights and desires seem to have motivated many reflective individuals of the turn of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?